Automatic fire-extinguisher



(No Model.)

J. A. HOUSE.

AUTOMATIC FIRE EXTINGUISHBR.

Patented May 26, 1885.

Invanf'or fimsflbflwalfouse her, Washington. 0.1;

UNITED dramas arnnr @rrrch.

JAMES ALFORD HOUSE, OF BRIDGEPORT, CONNEGTIGUT.

AUTOMATIC FiRE-EXTlNGUlSHER.

EPECEFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 318,743, dated lday 26, 1885.

(N0 model.)

To ctZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J .inns ALFORD House, a citizen of the. United States, residing at Bridgeport, in the county of Fairfield and State of Oonnecticut,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Devices for Suspending Fire-Grenades; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to certain novel and useful improvements in devices for suspending fire-grenades, and has for its object to provide such a device as shall furnish under ordinary circumstances a convenient support for the grenade, and which will in case of fire automatically break the grenade and cause its contents to be scattered; and with these ends in view my invention consists in the details of construction and combination of elements hereinafter fully and in detail explained, and then specifically designated by the claims.

In order that those skilled in the art to which my invention appertains may more fully understand its construction and operation, Iwill proceed to describe the same in detail, referring by letter to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification,in which- Figure l is a side elevation of my improve ment having suspended thereby a fire-grenade of the kind ordinarily in use; Fig. 2. a modification of the device illustrated by Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 astill further modification.

Similar letters denote like parts in the several figures of the drawings.

A is any hand-grenade, of glass or other fragile materia1such as is used for fire-extinguishing purposes and provided upon either side thereof with depressions B, opposite to one another.

0 is a link,madefro1n some metal fusible at a low temperature, by means of which the grenade is suspended from a hook, X, or other convenient support, as seen at Fig. 1.

D are grapples pivoted together after the manner of tongs, and whose claws are adapted to rest within the depressions B in the sides of the grenade. Encircling the handle portions of the grapples is a link, E, adapted to slide upon said handles" and when moved toward their free ends to draw the claws together.

F is a chain, one end ofwhich is attached to link E and the other to hook X, or other point of attachment at a proper height above the floor.

The operation of my improvement is as follows: \Vhen hung as shown at Fig. 1, and any rise of temperature sui'ficient to fuse the suspending-link occurs,the grenade falls until the end of the chain is reached, when the link E, to which said chain is attached, slides along the handle portions of the grapples toward their free ends and draws the claws together, breaking the grenade between their points and scattering its contents upon the door beneath the point of suspension.

In Fig. 2 I have shown a modification ofmy improvement, in which the grenade is suspended by a chain, 0, composed of fusible links, and in which a hammer, G, pivoted at the top portion of the grenade, as seen at H, and having the chain F, attached to its shank end, takes the place of the grapples just described as a breaking mechanism. By the fusing of the chain 0 the grenade is caused to fall, and its weight coming upon the shank end of the hammer turns the latter upon its pivot and dashes its head against the side of the grenade, in this way accomplishing its fracture.

Fig. 3 represents a still further modification, which differs from Fig. 2 simply in that the hammer-head is dispensed with and a second grenade, J, of less capacity than the first substituted in its place.

In this my invention I do not wish to be confined to the exact construction of breaking mechanism shown and described, as the breakage may with equal facility be accomplished in various ways.

The gist of my invention rests in the broad idea of suspending a fire-extinguisher of the character described by means of afusible connection which will part upon any rise of temperature higher than its fusing-point.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a device of the character described, a

receptacle containing a fire extinguishi n g fluid and suspended by afusible connection, in combination with a breaker, substantially as described, attached to said receptacle, whereby upon the fusing of the connection the receptarle is caused to fall and be crushed, substantially as set forth.

2. An automatic fire-extinguisher,thesame consisting of a receptacle containing a fire-extinguishing fluid, a connection of metal fusible at a low temperature for suspending the same, and a breaker, substantially as described, at-

tached to said receptacle, whereby upon the fusing of the connection the breaking of the receptacle may be accomplished, substantially as set forth.

JAMES ALFORD HOUSE.

lVitn esses:

J. S. HANNER, GEO. W. KEELER. 

